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Summer 2011 Host's Guide: Barbecue Bonanza: Cocktails

Hosts who serve out-of-the-ordinary cocktails demonstrate that they have thought out every detail. Still, before your bartender starts multiplying recipes, Francesco Lafranconi has a bit of advice: "It’s very important to make the recipe at least once, to learn how the ingredients taste."

Though cold beer is always a refreshing partner to the scents and tastes of a barbecue, Lafranconi’s Rub ’n’ Rye offers a twist. "It’s basically a bourbon sour that I like to stretch with the rye beer," he says, adding that the reddish-colored beer has a spicier flavor, much like the spice in a rye whiskey.

The Crema de Mezcal he uses in his Beso Ahumado picks up grilled food’s smoky accents, combining herbal notes from the Green Char-treuse to mesh with the Mescal and Key lime pie dessert.